‘War crime’

Germany blamed Vladimir Putin for the destruction of the Kakhova dam in Ukraine, and was joined by other European NATO members in denouncing it as a “war crime.” The statements added to rising outcry over the biggest man-made disaster in Europe in decades as Ukraine said it was mounting rescue efforts for tens of thousands of people. “This is an unbelievable act of violence and destruction which I thought even Putin would not be capable of,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters on Wednesday. As for the looming counteroffensive against the Russian invaders, no one seems to know for sure when that’s coming, which might be Kyiv’s preference. —David E. Rovella

The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday alleged Coinbase evaded its rules by letting users trade numerous crypto tokens that were actually unregistered securities. As its shares slumped, Cathie Wood’s funds swooped in to boost their holdings. And separately, less than a half hour before the SEC brought the hammer down, an options trader made a short-term bet against Coinbase that may have netted them millions of dollars.

The impact of the climate crisis has been felt keenly this year all over the world, from Madrid to Manilla and, of course, New York. But inside the London headquarters of Standard Chartered and banks like it, it might be awhile before the reality of a warming planet registers—at least when it comes to loans extended to the world’s biggest polluters. The credit risk posed by carbon-intensive industries, bank executives say, is several years away. Here’s why.

Sequoia Capital’s plan to split itself into three separate regional firms represents a major shift at one the world’s foremost venture capital firms. The dramatic move may insulate Sequoia from pending regulation—but it’s also a signal that ties to China are a growing liability in Silicon Valley.

As his workers raced to meet a recent deadline, Andre Schulte-Suedhoff did something he hadn’t done in more than 20 years—he joined the production line at his factory near Munster and spent the weekend screwing together air-filter equipment. Short as many as 15 employees and facing financial penalties for late delivery, he didn’t have a choice. For thousands of firms across Germany, such bottlenecks are becoming increasingly common. According to a German government research institute, the country’s workforce of 47 million is about to stop growing. Perhaps it already has. According to the development bank KfW, the decades of expansion witnessed by the European giant are over. “The foundation for further prosperity growth is crumbling,” the bank warned.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long championed an unorthodox economic policy based on ultra-low interest rates. The costs of that policy piled up in the form of Turkey’s depleted foreign-currency reserves, an inflationary spike and an exodus of foreign capital. He was re-elected anyway. On Wednesday, Turkey’s lira plunged to a record low as state-run lenders temporarily halted dollar sales, a sign that Erdogan’s new economic team is abandoning costly intervention strategies as part of an expected turn toward more conventional policies.

Nigeria’s currency sank to a record low after the central bank auctioned dollars at a naira rate that was almost 30% weaker than on the tightly controlled official market. Faced with heavy demand from industries and importers for the greenback, the central bank of Africa’s biggest economy sold dollars at 645 naira apiece, adding to speculation that a devaluation may be coming.

New York was the most polluted major city in the world on Tuesday night, as smoke from Canadian wildfires blanketed the city in haze. Wednesday wasn’t much better. Pollution levels in the city were higher than those in Delhi and Baghdad. Other North American cities were also being afflicted by smoke, with Detroit getting hit particularly bad. The US Northeast, including New York City, will continue to breathe in choking smoke for the next few days.

Visitors to the Finnish pavilion at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale were greeted with an unlikely sight: A no-flush outhouse toilet. While the structure, known as a Huussi, may seem a bit primitive to some, it’s long been a popular design in rural parts of Finland because it requires no connection to water supplies: It processes waste not by flushing it away, but by converting it to compost in a hay-filled container. It saves water and recirculates waste back into the ecosystem—both essential goals in a world where many areas are drying out thanks to climate change, and where as much as 30% of urban water supplies are still used to flush human waste. Indeed, modern toilet practices are likely to become unsustainable within the next few decades; by 2050 it’s estimated that up to five billion people could be facing water shortages.

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